Saturday, July 5, 2008

 

Today we went on a boat ride so we could go to see whales close up.  This boat holds 40 people max so it is much smaller than the Alaskan Marine Ferry that we had been on yesterday.  This boat had three levels; the top one is an observation deck half open, half covered with a canopy.  The second level is where the captain (driver) and his dog have the front area roped off from the passengers.  There is also a snack bar, dining room, sitting room and two bathrooms called heads.  The bottom level is where the motors are located.  There are also 5-6 staterooms, which are really small bedrooms and a bathroom.  The trip was to last from 10am to 4pm so we took lunch with us to eat during the trip.

 

Our boat ride took us from Bellingham southwest to the San Juan Islands, Orca Islands, past Victoria Island where we got to see bald eagles, a bald eagle nest, boulder seals and their pups, sea lions, minke whales, puffins, sea gulls, and terns (the last three were similar to ducks; they could fly and swim).  We were guaranteed to see Orca whales but they had moved to a new location several hours farther than a day trip so we returned to shore with the promise that we could use our tickets to go free on a different day which doesn’t do Kansans very much good when we only have one day in Bellingham.  Oh well, we did have great time and get to see some marine animals close up even 20+ foot minke whales. 

 

We got off the boat at 5:30 and went to Wal-Mart to pack up the camper and get down the road.  We had supper at McDonald’s and shared a ½ gallon of Edy’s chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream from Wal-Mart.  It was delicious. 

 

We left Bellingham, Washington and went south on I-5 a few miles to highway 20, which is supposed to be a beautiful drive through Washington Cascade Mountains and through a little historic western town called Winthrop.

 

We camped for the night at Concrete, Washington at a campground that had showers.  It was a campground between the highway and the river.  There was just one bathroom for the whole campground and it had both the toilet and shower in it so we started taking turns.  Those who weren’t showering played dominoes.  Feeling nice and clean, we went to bed.

 

Mileage for the day: 200?

Temperature high: 70’s

Camping fee: $34.00

Price for gasoline: $4.42/gal